The Little Piece of Crumpled Silver Paper

John Weaver 2000 (Emily has cerebral palsy) Her room is not the sort of room you’d quite expect to find For a little girl whose love of life is clear No toys or games or bats or balls, or fun things of that kind No bicycle or skateboard will appear But the little piece of crumpled silver paper It's very cheerful and bright with pictures everywhere A pump to feed her through the night and a big adapted chair Though pretty dolls sit on the shelf and teddies on her bed She cannot play with them herself so she holds them tight instead And the little piece of crumpled silver paper It was Christmas day some years ago with excitement in the air When we opened her presents and then found That she couldn’t play with them and it didn’t seem quite fair That she would always be so cruelly bound To a life without the toys that all children adore And then we heard a new sound that meant so much more A crackle from the little piece of crumpled silver paper The expensive gifts didn’t matter to this special little girl Her joy came from quite another caper As the parcels and the packaging slowly started to unfurl All she wanted was the silver wrapping paper You see, she could grasp it tight to make a funny noise instead And so it fast became a dear friend And she holds it close beside her even when she goes to bed And the lesson to be learned is, in the end… Happiness is not always found in gifts so big and costly And often simple things can bring the joy you need Contentment is a state of mind and the choice is yours mostly To be content with what you’ve got and with every little deed Or, to always be in want and never satisfied And so for me the real belief will never taper That the truth of life is clear and very closely tied To the little piece of crumpled silver paper.